Unexpected
by it walks alone
Summary: Kurama and Duo randomly drop into IWA's family room and our 'crew' has to deal with the results. Featuring IWA, BK, IDNR, M and some newbies. Kudos to anyone who can guess who's who.
1. Chapter 1

BK: ladies and gentlemen, meet the reason that GIA has not updated in months. Well, part of the reason. The other part is that we're getting lazy and bogged down with schoolwork. IWA isn't here at the moment, she's on a music trip and as I dropped flute in 10th grade, I'm not with her.

Anyways, a while back IWA got a creative writing assignment to write a short story. As all of you can see, its no longer very short. We finally finished it and I promise I promise I PROMISE we will be getting back to GIA very soon. PROMISE.

Its gonna be a while for Know your place tho.

So we dont own YYH or GW, and I IWA's parents own her house so...just the plot again. And again, since I'm far too lazy to put a disclaimer at every chapter or come up with chapter names this'll be the last time you'll hear from me.

And NO we didn't use our real names. Duh.

Chapter 1

"Thanks, Chess!" Kara called, waving over her shoulder at her friend, who grinned and waved back, already walking in the other direction, heading for her homeroom.

Kara was an average high-school student with blue eyes and glasses, wearing a blue tie-dye GENESEO t-shirt over a white long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and black boots.

She smirked down at the two DVD boxes in her hands. "Finally. I guess her mom finished watching it." She shrugged, her red-brown hair settling over her shoulders. "Either that or she gave up."

She walked into Room 347 just as the second bell rang, trying to stuff the Gundam Wing boxes into her bag and failing miserably. Kara put her binder, bag, and DVDs on the desk and turned to the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance. Afterwards, she sat down, opened the bag, and spent a minute or two rearranging her sketchbook, notebook, novel, and lunch so that she could fit the two DVD boxes in, all the while listening to the drone of the morning announcements.

At 7:45, the bell rang again, and everyone stood up and headed for the door.

Kara's first period was orchestra. As usual, she was one of the first ones in the room. She walked over to the instrument cages lining the back of the room, opened the padlock on her locker, pulled her violin out, closed the cage, and dumped her stuff by her chair. Kara was principal of the second violin section, so she sat in the innermost row, third from the end. It was full orchestra that day, so the room was crowded. After tuning, they listened to a CD of one of the pieces they were working on for the concerto concert coming up, then spent the rest of the class on it, managing to make it through the entire thing with only one or two train wrecks. The first one happened at the beginning: the trumpets had a note that didn't sound right and one penciled in that was even worse. In the end, one trumpet player had to go next door and ask Shemancik-san, one of the two band directors, for help, and even he didn't know what to do.

After orchestra, Kara went to Astronomy. For 40 minutes, she was lectured on the properties of waves and light, which she knew already and was bored by.

The day passed similarly, the rest of her classes going well enough. 

When Kara got home, she worked a bit on her Creative Writing assignment, then got the DVDs out of her bag and went back downstairs.

When she actually got to the family room, where the DVD player was, she hesitated, pulling two more DVDs out of a pile on top of the sound cabinet next to the TV.

Kara backed up and sat in the slowly self-destructing armchair in front of the TV to debate the merits of watching Gundam Wing versus Yu Yu Hakusho.

Suddenly, a flash of light burst in front of her and there was a double 'thump' and at least one startled exclamation. She yelped and flinched back, shielding her face with her arms.

After the light had vanished, she peeked over her arms.

And gaped.

Sprawled on the floor were two teenagers. One was lying on his back and the other was on his stomach across the former's legs.

The first was wearing a black shirt reminiscent of a priest's robes tucked into black jockey pants and boots. His chestnut-colored hair was gathered into a braid that spilled onto the floor beside him. His pale skin and wide violet eyes gave him the appearance of some sort of supernatural being.

The other had blood-red hair that extended to his mid back and brilliant emerald eyes. The magenta school uniform he was wearing clashed horribly with his hair. He was saying something to himself in a different language, then suddenly realized that he was lying on someone, and sat up quickly.

The braided teen was also muttering. "Okay, note to self—never try to install unknown technology into something that has a good chance of blowing up in your face." He blinked. "...This isn't the hangar ceiling. Am I in a hospital?"

Kara stared at them. "Bloody hell." She blinked, then buried her head in her hands. "I have really been reading too many Harry Potter fanfictions."

The one in black sat up and looked at her, then glanced around. "So... Where are we?" he asked cheerfully. "I mean, I know we're not in the safe house... And I don't know either of you," he babbled.

Kara sighed. "My house in upstate New York. I'm Kara, and I know who you two are already, courtesy of these," she informed them, holding up the DVDs she was still holding. "You," she continued, pointing to the redhead with the Yu Yu Hakusho DVDs, "are Shuichi Minamino, star student of Meiou High, also known as Youko Kurama, the legendary silver fox demon thief."

The newly-named Kurama blinked. "Impressive," he murmured.

The other blinked and turned to him. "So you _do_ speak English. You had me wondering there, for a moment."

"And you," Kara continued, turning to the braided one and pointing at him with the Gundam Wing DVDs, "are Duo Maxwell, pilot 02 of the Gundam Deathscythe and self-proclaimed God of Death." She sat back in her chair, which creaked loudly in protest. "Am I right?"

Duo grinned, jumping to his feet and executing a flourishing bow to the other two.

"That's right! Duo Maxwell, at your service! I run, I hide, but I never tell a lie!"

Kurama smiled at his antics, climbing gracefully to his feet. "I see. It's nice to meet you," he said, bowing to the both of them.

Kara smiled, standing up and depositing the four DVD boxes she was still holding onto the coffee table behind her chair.

"Nice to meet you too. Well, in person, anyway." She sighed.

Kurama turned to her, his eyes narrowed. "Yes, about that. How do you know who we are?"

Kara sighed. "I was wondering when you were going to get around to that. You're both anime characters in this world."

Duo blinked. "Really?"

Kara nodded. "Yeah. Kurama's from Yu Yu Hakusho and you're from Gundam Wing."

Kurama looked thoughtful. "So that's what Koenma did with the old spirit record footage."

Kara sighed and put her head in her hands. "...I really need to call Chess." She walked into the kitchen, picked up the phone by the sliding glass door, dialed a number, and waited for a minute.

"_Kara, I'm at _work_,"_ Francesca said over the phone.

"I know. It's important," Kara replied.

"_How important?"_

"Potential-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it important."

Francesca sighed. _"Make it quick."_

"I know I'm not supposed to call you at work and I'm really sorry but this is really important and—"

"_The point?"_ Francesca interrupted.

"DUO MAXWELL AND KURAMA ARE STANDING IN MY FAMILY ROOM AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!"

There was a pause.

"_Is this another fanfiction idea?"_

"NO!"

Another voice interrupted over the phone. _"__Francesca, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to get off the phone..."_

"_I'm really sorry, Wendy, it's my best friend. He's having some sort of sexual identity crisis__— Can I just take this one call? I'll never do it again, I promise!"_ Francesca pleaded.

"Sexual identity crisis? _He_?" Kara muttered.

"_Um... Alright,"_ the voice said.

"_Thank you!"_ Francesca exclaimed. _"I'm gonna run down to the stock room for privacy, hang on."_

"Hanging on."

Kara waited, Duo stared at her through the window between the kitchen and the family room, and Kurama started looking through the stack of DVDs.

"_Alright, tal—AAAH!"_ Francesca yelped.

"Chess! What happened?"

Kurama looked over. Duo's eyes narrowed sharply.

"_I'm okay! Hello, Raven."_

"_Mrrow!"_ Raven was obviously a cat.

Kara sighed and rolled her eyes. "Chess..."

Duo relaxed and Kurama went back to the DVDs.

"_I'm okay—I walked into the stock room and one of the hospital cats was on the top shelf. She surprised me, that's all. So—what happened?"_

"Well, you lent me Gundam Wing, and I was debating whether to watch that or Yu Yu Hakusho when there was a flash of light and Duo and Kurama were lying on the floor in front of me."

Kurama frowned as he continued looking through the DVDs. Duo picked up the two Gundam Wing boxes.

"_Wow."_

"Yeah. So what do I do?"

"_Well, let's start with the basics. They'll need food, clothes, and a place to stay."_

"Oh GOD, what am I gonna tell my parents?" Kara wondered fatalistically.

"No_ idea. What about school tomorrow?"_ Francesca replied.

"Crap."

"_Okay. Um... Is there any possible chance your parents will believe the truth?"_

"Possibly."

"_Then go with the truth."_

"'Kay. I still don't know what to do about clothes. I will _not_ subject them to my brother's."

"_Figure that out later. I dunno what to do about school."_

"Maybe they can shadow me."

"_Can one shadow me?"_

"...Sure."

"_Awesome."_

"Should I show them the DVDs?"

"_As much as I'd like to say yes, that's probably a bad idea. We don't know where they are in the series—"_

"Kurama said something about spirit records."

"_Spirit records?"_

"Yeah, something like 'So that's what Koenma did with the old spirit record footage.'"

"_...Ask if Yusuke's back from Demon World yet."_

"'Kay. Kurama?"

The redhead in question looked up.

"Is Yusuke back from Demon World yet?"

Kurama blinked, then nodded.

"Yup," Kara informed Francesca.

"_Alright— He's at the end of the series, so the YYH DVDs are fine. We'll have to grill Duo later."_

"Okay." Kara looked up. "Crap. Duo's messing with the DVD player. I gotta go."

"_I'll call you after work. Be _careful_."_

"Will do. Bye!"

"_Bye!"_

Kara hung up the phone and walked into the family room. Kurama had taken the stack of DVDs and was sitting with them on the old green couch behind the coffee table. Duo was crouching in front of the sound cabinet.

"What's this?" the braided teen asked.

"A DVD player," Kara answered.

Duo stared. "You're kidding."

"Nope," Kara replied. "Don't mess with it. I have to go talk to my dad, so... sit tight and don't touch anything, please."

Duo had wandered over to the bookshelf on the wall. "Are these VHSs?" he asked. The entire bookshelf was jam-packed with them.

Kara sighed and went downstairs.


	2. Chapter 2

BK: chappie two...standard disclaimers all apply...

Chapter 2

"Dad?" Kara called softly as she opened the office door.

"Yes?" he answered after a minute.

"Um..." she fidgeted. "Two anime characters just showed up in the family room."

He just looked at her. "What?"

"We have two teenagers in the family room who used to be imaginary." She saw his Look. "I'm serious!"

"Kara, what's going on?"

"No idea."

"Kara, I appreciate that you have an active imagination, but—"

Just then Duo poked his head around the door, his 3-foot-long braid swinging into view. "Hey, Kara, I'm hungry. Is there any food around here?"

Kara sighed. "Dad, meet Duo Maxwell, former anime character. Duo, meet my dad."

Duo blinked. "Uh, hi." He stepped into the room. "So is there anything I can eat?"

Kara's dad sighed. "Kara, get him something to eat. We'll talk with Mom and Colin when they get home."

Kara smiled. "Sure, Dad. C'mon, Duo. Food's this way."

The braided teen stepped to the side to let her pass, then eagerly followed her up the stairs.

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Kara showed him where the food was, and he immediately put a sandwich together.

While he was eating, Kurama turned to Kara. "May we have some explanations, please?"

Kara looked up. "What exactly do you want to know?"

"How do you know so much about us?"

Kara sighed. "You saw the DVDs." It wasn't a question. Kurama nodded anyway. "You probably recognized Yu Yu Hakusho." The redhead nodded again. "That's how I know you. You're one of the characters."

Kurama looked thoughtful. "I see. And Duo?"

"He's from Gundam Wing."

"So," Duo said around a mouthful of sandwich, "can we see them?"

Kara Looked at him. "One, don't talk with your mouth full. My parents are gonna get on your case about that, so I just want to warn you." The braided teen managed to look sheepish. "Two, you can watch Yu Yu Hakusho, as Kurama's from the the end of the series."

Duo swallowed his mouthful of food. "What about Gundam Wing?"

"Until we figure out where you are in the series, we can't risk it," Kara answered. "So. What's happened?"

Duo looked thoughtful. "Well, we're all together, but Hee-chan and I were on a mission. Um... What else do you need to know?"

Kara sighed, looking rather frustrated. "I don't know, that's the problem. We need to talk to Chess. I think she knows the Gundam Wing timeline better than I do."

Duo was crestfallen. "Oh."

Kara smirked at him. "But you can still watch Yu Yu Hakusho until we talk to her."

Duo smirked back. "Yeah." He stood up. "So who's up for watching some anime?"

"Hold on, Duo. We still need to figure a few things out," Kurama interjected.

Duo turned back questioningly. "What?"

"Where we will sleep, for one. And clothes—if we're going to be here for a while, we won't want to wear these the whole time."

Duo nodded, then snickered. "Unlike Hee-chan and his ever-present tank top, spandex, and really ugly yellow sneakers."

Kurama looked vaguely horrified.

"Yeah, the guy has no fashion sense whatsoever."

Kara snickered. "You should see your face, Kurama!"

Kurama looked exasperatedly at her.

She controlled herself. "But anyway, we'll have to talk to my mom about that, and she won't be home for a while. So we have some time for anime."

Duo grinned. "Great! ...Um, Kara, you'll have to work the systems..." he said sheepishly.

Kara grinned at him. "Sure. And don't take it too bad—some of my friends can't figure it out either."

He smiled, relieved.

Kara shrugged. "Chess keeps complaining that she'll break it."

Kurama smirked.

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After Kara's mom and brother got home, Kara and Kurama (with some interjections from Duo along the way) explained the situation. Luckily for the two ex-anime characters, Kara's mom was understanding, so soon they were all getting bundled up, out the door and off to the mall for clothes for Duo and Kurama (and other essentials that really aren't worth mentioning).

Duo snagged some black jeans and t-shirts, and Kurama chose some slightly more formal outfits; nice jeans and turtle necks. Kara's dad had lent Kurama his winter vest, so only Duo had to get a coat.

Once they got home, Kara's mom called the school and told them that two students would be shadowing Kara for a while—and that Kara's friend Franchesca had volunteered to let one shadow her. By the time she hung up the phone, it was time to go for dinner.

As it was a Wednesday during Lent, Kara's church was hosting a Lenten dinner, so they went to her church and got there around six o'clock. After dinner, Kara had bell choir from 7-7:45, then her parents had choir until 8:30. During choir, the three teens started talking.

The first question raised came from Kara.

"So who wants to shadow Chess?" She blinked. "Oh, wait... She's taking Physics and AP Chem. They have labs. Duo's coming with me."

The braided teen pouted.

Kara mock-glared at him. "You'd blow up half the school!"

Duo stared. "I keep forgetting how well you know us... It's really kinda freaky..."

"Sorry about that."

Duo shook his head. "Not a problem. It's just... freaky."

"So," Kara said after a moment of silence. "Do either of you have any questions for me?"

"Yes," Kurama answered. "As I will be shadowing your friend Franchesca, I'd like to know about her."

Kara nodded. "Makes sense. Let's see... She's actually a lot like me. Um... Er... I don't really know how to describe her, sorry. We really are similar, though. A lot of people have said so, and I've even been asked if we're related once or twice."

Duo stared. "Really? Are you?"

Kara grinned. "Yes, really. No, not to my knowledge. I'm Christian, she's Jewish."

Kurama nodded. "I see."

"So what's your school like?" Duo asked.

Kara winced. "It's falling apart," she replied frankly.

Duo stared at her. "Uh..."

She sighed. "In reality, it's being reconstructed around us, while we're there. But it's still falling apart."

Duo stared some more. "Ah."

They continued chatting until choir let out at 9, and then left to go home.

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5:59 AM found Kara awake and staring at her ceiling. After choir the night before, they had settled Kurama in the upstairs guest room and Duo on the futon in the basement. They had gone to bed rather quickly, Kurama suffering from the time change and Duo just tired. At six o'clock, the first of Kara's alarms went off.

Beep. Beep. Be—click.

She rolled over and buried herself in her pillow. _Too _early_... huh?_ Quiet rustles came through the door, from the guest room. _Kurama,_ Kara thought. _My alarm must've woken him. Oops._

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

_Dammit._ Kara groaned and tromped across the room to shut off her second alarm. She tromped back and climbed under the covers. _Waay too early._

All was quiet. For a minute. _Wait for it, wait for it..._

BEEEP. BEEEP. BEEEP. BEEEP.

Right on schedule, Colin's alarm started up, with it's usual industrial-factory volume. A muffled yelp and thump from the guest room informed her that Kurama had fallen out of bed. Kara winced. _He's got it worse than I do. Demon hearing and all that._

More shuffling and the sound of water running let Kara know Kurama was using the bathroom. She lay in bed a while longer. _I should probably get up._ Kara stumbled out of bed, grabbed her robe and slippers and headed downstairs.

Kurama was already in the kitchen, in a pair of new jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. His hair was damp and pulled back into a low ponytail, strands sticking to the shoulders of his shirt. He was facing the stove, his back to her. Something was sizzling. He turned around when she entered the room.

"Good morning, Kara-san," Kurama said pleasantly.

"Good... morning?" Whatever was on the stove smelled _good_.

"It took a little longer than normal, because I didn't know where everything was, but breakfast should be ready soon."

Kara blinked. She was more accustomed to the grab-a-bagel-on-the-way-out-the-door-to-catch-the-bus-on-time breakfast. She grinned. _I could get used to this!_ "Is Duo up yet?" she asked.

"I don't think so."

"I should go wake him, then. Be back in a minute." As Kara headed to the basement, she heard the muffled "beeps" of her brother Colin's alarm coming out of 'sleep mode'. Kurama growled softly in the kitchen. "Don't worry, it only repeats ten times or so!" she called over her shoulder. A pot clang was the only response.

The basement was dark, and while she couldn't _see_ Duo, she could hear him. Soft snores came from the back corner of the room. "Duo?" she called. No response. "Duo!" More snores. "Grr..." Kara flipped the light switch and went down the stairs.

Duo was sprawled across the futon on his back, blankets bunched around his waist with one arm hanging off the edge and the other draped across his stomach. As Kara watched, he snored again. "Figures he'd be a messy sleeper. _Duo_! Wake _up_!"

The only response was yet another snore.

"That's it!" She reached out to grab his shoulder, and was inches away when a hand closed around her wrist and twisted. She yelped and tried to pull away. "Ow!"

"What the..."

Kara looked over at the head of the futon. Bleary purple eyes blinked at her. "Huh?"

"Duo," Kara said calmly. "Wake _UP_!"

He jumped. "GAH! I'm awake, I'm awake!"

"Good!" Kara snapped. "Now let go of my arm!"

Duo stared at her for a second. "Arm? Oh!" He let go of her. "Sorry. Instinct and all that. Next time just throw a pillow at me."

Kara massaged her wrist. "It's alright. Why didn't you wake when I called?"

"I was already awake, kinda." Duo climbed off the futon and stretched. "I was kinda in 'soldier mode'. It happens when I'm in a new place for the first time. I start to wake up and don't recognize something, the smell, the feel of the mattress, whatever, and go into this... battle mindset where I'm analyzing my surroundings and basically playing dead 'till I figure out what's going on." He grinned at her. "But I'm pretty hard to wake up anyway. People calling me doesn't work, come too close and I'll grab you, so it's really best to just throw things from a distance." Duo paused. "_Soft_ things."

Kara laughed.

Kurama came part way down the stairs. "Breakfast's ready. Good morning, Maxwell-san."

"'Morning!" Duo chirped, heading up the stairs. "What's to eat?"


	3. Chapter 3

BK: chapter three...again, standard disclaimers all apply...anyone sensing a pattern here? I apologize over the lack of titles but i'm kinda lazy and am trying to get all of this posted at once so that i can take it off my things to do list...

Chapter 3

The three teens managed to be out the door by seven and caught the bus—as it was a Thursday, Kara had all her usual stuff plus her good violin, which Kurama had been nice enough to take from her when he noticed that she was having trouble with it all. When they got to school 20 minutes later, Kara dropped her coat off at her locker, put her violin in the orchestra room, and led the other two to the main office, where she signed them in and they got their neon orange "VISITOR" stickers. Kurama put his in the customary place on his shirt, but Duo's wound up turned sideways a few inches above his right knee.

They all trooped up a set of stairs to the second floor and started looking for Franchesca, who they found quickly, as she was on her way to the main office to find them.

Franchesca was average height with dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail and glasses, wearing a dark green long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. Her iPod was clipped to her pocket.

"Kara!" she greeted.

"Chess!" Kara replied. "This is Kurama and Duo. Guys, this is Franchesca."

"Hi," Franchesca chirped, waving at them.

"Hello," Kurama returned, bowing slightly.

"Hey," Duo added. "Do you know as much about us as Kara does?"

"Well, I know more about Kurama, 'cause I've seen more of Yu Yu Hakusho than she has—"

"Talk on the way, we're going to my homeroom," Kara declared, starting off. The others hastened to catch up.

"But she probably knows more about you, Duo, than I do, 'cause she's kinda obsessed with Gundam Wing," Franchesca finished.

Kara smirked. "You probably know the timeline better than I do, but yeah, I know the characters better." She turned and addressed Duo. "So what's the last major event that happened?"

Duo scowled. "Hee-chan self-detonated."

Franchesca nodded. "In Siberia. And you went with Quatre after that, didn't you?"

Duo looked at her oddly as they climbed another set of stairs. "...Yeah. We all met up again, and Hee-chan and I went on a mission. Then I installed something in Deathscythe and it blew up in my face. That's when I wound up in your house, Kara."

Kara shoved open the door to her homeroom and dropped her stuff on her desk. "I'd gathered as much, from what you were muttering."

Duo blinked. "What did I say?"

"'Note to self—never try to install unknown technology into something that has a good chance of blowing up in your face.'"

Kurama blinked, surprised.

Franchesca snickered.

Duo scowled at her.

Kara frowned. "That's odd, though. You five didn't get together before going into space."

Duo blinked. "Space?

Franchesca nodded. "Mm-hmm. And Heero enrolled himself in school under your name."

"My name?! That bastard!"

Kara glared at him. "Duo, we're in school. Censor yourself, at least when teachers are around!"

And indeed, the student teacher, Coriddi-sempai, had just walked in, followed by the teacher, Steele-sensei.

Franchesca turned to Kara. "But if he's from after the whole Siberia, Heero-self-destructing-and-being-in-a-coma-for-a-month thing, he can watch the whole first disc and part of the second."

Kara nodded. "Yeah."

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

She looked up. "And that'd be the bell. See you—it's Thursday, isn't it?—at lunch."

Franchesca waved at her and Duo. "Yup." She smirked. "Have fun with Duo."

Kara glared, but she had already snagged Kurama by the arm and dragged him out of the room.

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Duo had been entertained by the orchestra first period, was bored out of his mind by second period Astronomy ("I know this already! Why do I have to sit through it all again?!"), was also bored by Statistics third, happily wrote all during Creative Writing fourth—drawing up plans for future pranks on "Waffles," he announced when asked about it—helped the nearly nonexistent tenor section in chorus fifth period (and was flabbergasted by the fact that two of the four tenors didn't sing and one of the other two sang an octave too low), and whipped some poor guy's butt in badminton in gym sixth. Then Kara and Duo met up with Franchesca and Kurama, who had lunch sixth period.

The poor redheaded fox was busy being traumatized by Elizabeth, another of Kara's friends.

Elizabeth was a little on the short side, with long blonde hair resting in a braid down her back and blue eyes, wearing a black sweatshirt over a green shirt and jeans.

Kurama glanced up when Kara and Duo came into view, but Kara motioned for him not to say anything. He smirked slightly, but quickly wiped the expression off his face and turned politely back to Elizabeth, who was ranting at him about something.

Kara walked up to the table quietly and dropped her binder onto the table with a bang.

"Yaah!" Both Franchesca and Elizabeth jumped.

Franchesca turned to her, wide-eyed. "Don't DO that!"

Kara and Duo cracked up, and Kurama snickered quietly.

"So how was your day?" Kara asked Franchesca once she had stopped laughing.

"Well, first period we had Physics. Pavone-sensei just stared at Kurama for a while until he told him he was a guy."

Duo cracked up again.

Franchesca grinned. "Second period was gym. Kurama sat out and read my books."

"Too bad. I ruled in badminton!" Duo crowed.

Kurama smiled.

"Math was third. I read the whole class."

Kara rolled her eyes. "Typical Chess."

Elizabeth giggled.

"We had Contemporary Crafts fourth period. Kurama drew the whole time," Franchesca continued.

"Really? Cool!" Kara exclaimed, sitting down. "Anything good?" she asked the fox.

He shook his head. "Nothing in particular," he replied dismissively.

"English was fifth. We were reading—"

"And let me guess, you finished my manga?" Kara interrupted her.

"Yeah, but Kurama hasn't. He's been reading Rurouni Kenshin."

Kara nodded. "Keep 'em 'till the end of the day, then. I'll get them back from Kurama after ninth."

"Sure. Anyway, back on topic—" Franchesca started.

"There was a topic?" Elizabeth asked.

"YES!" Franchesca returned. "ANYway, I read your manga and Kurama read Huckleberry Finn. And then we had lunch. Good thing Kurama brought a sandwich, too."

Kara nodded sagely. "School food sucks."

Elizabeth finally noticed Duo. She jumped up and started circling him.

He turned too, to keep an eye on her.

Finally, she got fed up, grabbed him by his shoulders, and spun him around.

There was a moment of silence as Duo blinked.

"It's not FAIR!" Elizabeth cried after a minute.

Duo jumped.

"Long, thick, _amazing_ hair, perfect skin, gorgeous eyes with lashes a supermodel would die for and it's WASTED on a GUY!" she ranted.

Duo stared at her over his shoulder. "...I'm... sorry?"

Kara laughed. "Duo, meet Elizabeth, Liz, meet Duo."

"Hi!" Elizabeth chirped.

Duo looked at Kurama. "And you had to deal with this for a whole period already?"

The redhead nodded sagely.

Duo shook his head. "I pity you, man."

Kara smirked. "There's a reason we call her IDNR."

The violet-eyed teen turned to his host. "IDNR? That stand for something?"

"In Desperate Need of Ritalin," Franchesca supplied.

Duo blinked. "Ritalin? You mean she has ADD?"

"No, but she sure acts like it, sometimes," Kara answered.

"Ah."

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

They all started packing up, and, still chatting, left the cafeteria for their seventh period classes.

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After their Economics class, Kara and Duo headed back to the orchestra room. Kara was explaining that she had a violin lesson with Sutliff-sensei eighth period and that if he got bored, he could always go down to the library and monopolize one of the computers there.

"But I don't know where the library is!"

Kara paused. "True, that." She pushed open the door and looked around. "Wait here while I go find Sutliff-sensei." She turned and glared at him. "And don't touch the instruments. We've already had one bass fall out of its cage and break." She walked out of the room, in search of her teacher.

Duo, temporarily cowed by the assertion that a wrong move would break something—and that he wouldn't be able to fix it—clasped his hands behind his back and started looking around.

He was saved from boredom by the return of Kara and Sutliff-sensei.

"Okay, Duo, I'll take you to the library and come get you at the end of the period." Kara looked at him narrowly. "You didn't touch anything, did you?"

"Nope!" he replied cheerfully.

"Good. Come on," she returned, grabbing his arm and leading him out the door.

Kara left him in the library with strict instructions: "Okay, you can browse around and go on the computer, but NO HACKING, got it?"

"But these computers are antiques! I don't think I know the right languages to hack them..." he replied.

Kara smirked and went back to her lesson.

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Once eighth period was over, Kara dropped by the library to pick up Duo. He had somehow found an unblocked fanfiction site online and was busy laughing his head off (silently, of course) at some of the Gundam Wing fics. He was also taking notes, writing down some prank ideas.

Kara rolled her eyes, reached around him, and logged him off. (He'd been logged on as her, oddly enough. Hacking skills at work, there. She hadn't told him her user name or password.) She then packed up his stuff, grabbed his arm, and dragged him, protesting the whole way, out of the library and to their next class, Participation in Government.

She introduced Duo to her two friends in the class, David and John. The three of them instantly hit it off, Duo and John discussing ways to blow stuff up and David interjecting a random comment here and there.

Nally-sensei was starting up the projector in preparation of watching _The West Wing_ when David made one of his inane and, more often than not, eerily insightful random comments:

"You know, when 'blue screens of death' are projected, they look like 'purple screens of death'."

John looked up. "Only around the edges."

Duo considered the screen. "You know, you're right."

"And it kind of matches your eyes," Kara added.

Duo blinked. "You're right!" he exclaimed, garnering strange looks from both Nally-sensei and the student teacher, Ash-sempai.

Kara leaned over and hissed at him, "Keep it down during class, will you?"

He ducked his head in apology. "Sorry, sure."

After PIG ended, Kara and Duo met up with Franchesca and Kurama just inside the exit. Kurama's bright red hair was easily visible.

Kara walked up behind Franchesca and tapped her on the shoulder.

Franchesca turned around and handed Kara her books. "Here."

"Thanks."

"So, can I come over this weekend?"

Kara looked at her, confused. "Huh? Why?"

"So we can figure out what to do with them," Franchesca replied, gesturing to the two ex-anime characters.

"I can hear ya, ya know," Duo grumped.

"We know," Kara and Franchesca replied in unison.

Duo stared. "Woah. Stereo in real life! Cool!"

Kara rolled her eyes. "It's nothing new. I'll have to talk to my parents, but you can probably come over on Saturday," she said to Franchesca.

Franchesca grinned. "Great! Not in the morning though. Now I have to catch my bus. Bye!" She turned and dashed out the door.

"Ditto that," Kara said, and walked out after her, followed by Duo and Kurama.

On the bus, Kurama sat in the seat across from the other two.

"Uh, Kurama, you like personal space, right? If you sit there, you're going to have to sit with somebody else," Kara informed him.

Kurama blinked. "Oh. Um..."

"How 'bout I sit there and scare 'em all away?" Duo suggested, a maniacal glint in his eyes.

Kara snickered. "Sure!"

Duo and Kurama switched places.


	4. Chapter 4

BK: this one's kinda long cause i couldnt find a good place to cut it off. Aaaaaaaaaaand I actually have semi-important news !!!

I HAVE A SOLO STORY!!!!

It is called Temptation and is a Suoh/Nokoru CLAMP school detectives fic! GO READ IT.

ehem.

Anyways, my penname is, of course, BritKit, and as a warning do NOT read any of my other fics they are YEARS old and will never be updated and are genenrally badly written. So dont read em. Please.

Chapter 4

When the three teens got back to Kara's house, they went to talk with her father, who (thankfully) worked at home. He agreed that Franchesca could come over on Saturday, provided they worked out transportation and times.

Kara called Franchesca's house and worked it out: Franchesca's mom would drive Franchesca over at around 2 PM, and Kara's mom would drive her back after dinner.

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That night, at around midnight (the sleeping arrangements from the night before still stood), Duo snuck into Kara's room to find the Gundam Wing DVDs, since she had taken them in order to keep Duo from watching them.

"Hi, Duo," Kara said from the bed.

"Shit. When do you go to sleep, anyway?"

"Late," she replied. "It's really annoying."

He sighed and left.

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He snuck in later, around 1 AM, and thankfully (for him), she was asleep. He looked around and found the DVDs sitting on the mess that covered her desk.

"Jeez," he whispered, "doesn't she ever clean up in here? It's worse than my room back at the safehouse!"

He snuck back out, thankful that her CD player hid the creak of her door's hinges. "Y'know, that's probably how she noticed me the first time," he mused, then paused, contemplating the night-lights in the hall, the bathroom, and on the landing. "Or the lights. That would work too." He shrugged, went downstairs, avoiding the last, creaky stair, and watched Gundam Wing until about 5 AM. Then he packed it up and snuck back into Kara's room and put the DVDs back.

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The next night, Duo watched another few hours of Gundam Wing. Since Kara had said that she wasn't going to be up until late (and might not be out of her room until after noon), he wasn't worried about replacing the DVDs. Besides, she probably knew that just putting them in her room wouldn't work. Not even locking them up would. He _was_ a master thief, after all.

That night (and morning), he finished the series itself. Kurama came down just as he was starting the movie, _Endless Waltz_, and watched that with him. Duo wound up explaining a few of the characters' backgrounds and the AC timeline, but he didn't mind. Kara came down around 11:30 (late, true to her word). She saw Duo and Kurama watching _Endless Waltz_ and stopped in the doorway. "Duo! You snuck into my room again!"

He looked up. "Yup. Did you expect me not to?"

Kurama turned to him, bemused. "You snuck into a girl's room?"

Duo glared at him. "Don't go getting any ideas. She hid the Gundam Wing DVDs in there!"

Kara rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh. I did. And I told you about it, which I probably shouldn't have done. Oh well, since you've already seen this much, there's probably not that much harm in watching the rest. Chess'll be over around 2," she reminded them, and sat down to watch the end with them.

They finished the movie in time for a late lunch. Then the doorbell rang.

Kara jumped up and went to the door. "Chess! Hi!"

"Hey, Kara!" Franchesca stepped into the foyer. "Hi Duo! Hi Kurama!"

"Hey!" Duo grinned at her.

"Hello, Franchesca-san," Kurama greeted her, bowing.

Franchesca paused, considering the redheaded fox. "There's no possible way I can get you to drop the '-san,' is there?"

Kurama smiled softly and shook his head.

Franchesca sighed. "Nevermind, then."

Kara laughed. "Yeah, he still calls me 'Kara-san' and Duo 'Maxwell-san.' C'mon in!"

They all congregated in the family room.

"First things first. Duo's seen all of Gundam Wing. _Endless Waltz_ included."

Franchesca glared at the braided teen. "Duo! You should know better than that!"

Duo glared right back, crossing his arms. "You got me curious. You know me so well, you should have known not to do that!"

Kara stepped between them. "Woah, woah! Let's not get at each others' throats, now!"

Duo sat back, transferring his glare to Kara. "You're the one who brought it up."

Kara glared at him. "I won't lie."

He blinked, taken aback at having his own motto thrown in his face.

She sighed and sat back down.

"Okay," Franchesca started, "while we're on the topic, Duo, you know you can't tell _anyone_ about what you know."

Kara nodded. "That's why we didn't want you to watch it in the first place. Now we don't even know if things are going to happen the same way since you know."

"You mean like a separate timeline deal?" Duo asked.

Kara nodded. "Exactly."

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Heero walked into the hangar, looking for Duo.

He looked around, then headed over to the Deathscythe and stopped.

There was an opened panel on the mecha's leg, and scorch marks on both the Gundam and the floor in front of the panel. There was also no sign of the braided pilot.

"...This could be problematic."

Pilot 01 turned around, got his laptop, and emailed Quatre.

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"Ooohh! This is bad! This is very bad!" Koenma whimpered to himself, his head buried in his arms. "Kurama's gone, I can't find him, and THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT!"

A blue oni poked his head in the door fearfully. Koenma's tantrums were legendary (after all, he'd been a toddler for upwards of 500 years), and the ogre had bad news.

"Uh, Koenma sir?" he asked nervously.

"WHAT, ogre?"

The blue ogre swallowed. "There's another problem, sir..."

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"Let's see, the word this round is 'Glorious.'" Kara announced. "Remember, we're playing opposites, so put down something that's _not_ glorious. Or magnificent, or delightful, or splendid."

Franchesca snickered and put down a card.

Kurama and Duo followed suit.

Kara picked the cards up and read them. "Okay, we have... 'Creamed Corn: Eat it, it's good for you,' 'My Bathroom: "The bathroom was drenched with their splashings," Aldous Huxley,'—oh, thanks—and 'Skinheads: Shaved heads, big boots. Some are Nazis, some are not." She paused. "Joy. Umm... I'll have to go with 'Creamed Corn.'"

Kurama smiled. "That was my card. So, what do I do?"

Kara handed him the green card with the word 'Glorious' on it. "Take this. Whoever gets 8 green cards first wins. Who put down 'My Bathroom'?"

"That was me," Duo volunteered.

"Just remember, cards with 'My' in the title are read from the judge's perspective, not yours."

"Oops."

"So the 'My Love Life' card you're holding would have won," Kara informed him.

"...How did—" Duo started.

"You're showing it to me right now. And have been for the past two minutes."

"...Oh. Oops."

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"ANOTHER??" Koenma exploded. "What's going on around here?! First Kurama is sent to the wrong world, and now someone else is TOO?!"

"With all due respect, Koenma sir," the blue oni started, "both problems happened at the same time. We suspect that a high-level release of energy in the other world, combined with the large amount of energy produced by the portal Kurama was using, was what triggered it."

"I don't care about why!" the toddler god wailed. "Just find them so I can send Botan to get them back where they're SUPPOESED to be!"

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"And the word is 'Squeaky Clean'. 'Pure, immaculate, unapproachable,'" Duo declared.

Kurama blinked. "I have nothing that fits..."

Kara looked up at him. "Even the opposite?"

He shook his head. "No."

She shrugged. "Then get rid of something. That's what I'm doing." She tossed a card on top of Franchesca's, who was smirking.

Kurama shrugged as well, and put a card down to join the other two.

Duo picked them up. "Okay, we have: 'Thunder: "Here it comes again, thunder and lightning..." ELO,' 'Woodstock: The 1969 love, music and mud festival attended by 400,000. Or the little yellow bird,' and 'My Mind: It's a terrible thing to waste.'" He cracked up. "Oh, God! Who's is this?" he laughed, holding up the 'My Mind' card.

Franchesca raised her hand, still smirking. "Doesn't it fit, though?"

The braided pilot merely nodded, not being able to do anything else for all his laughing. He handed her the green card.

Kurama handed out red cards to those who needed them.

Franchesca picked up a green card and read it. "The word is 'Friendly'. 'Affectionate, comforting, welcoming.'"

"Wah! I have nothing!" Kara complained.

"Oh, be quiet, you," Franchesca snapped, grinning.

Kurama, Kara, and Duo put down their cards.

"Okay, let's see here, 'Stubbed Toes: It'll feel better when it quits hurting,' 'The Ozone Layer: Short for ozonosphere. Theories about the ozone layer are full of holes,' and 'Hand Grenades: Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades!'" She blinked. "'Hand Grenades.' Definitely."

"Yes!" Duo cheered. "I win!"

After a few minutes of listening to him cheer, Kara grabbed his arm and set him to picking up the cards and getting them put away correctly.

Once he'd finished, he noticed the computer in the corner. He sat down in front of it and promptly jumped up again, staring wide-eyed at the chair.

Kara burst out laughing. "Oh yeah, did I forget to warn you about that? That chair has already fallen apart."

"It's _loud_!" he whimpered, still staring at the chair.

"Yeah, I know. You see the rope tied around the legs? We already tried to glue it and it came apart again," Kara explained.

"Wow... What happened to it?"

Kara laughed. "My brother."

Duo blinked at her. "Huh?"

"He can't sit still. That was his chair."

"Oh." Duo shrugged and sat down again. He unlocked the computer (after a few wrong passwords) and brought up Firefox, the default Internet browser.

He blinked. "Uhh... Something's not working, here..."

He searched around and started up Explorer, then blinked and cracked up.

"Ahahahahaha! Oh, man!" He turned to Kara. "Where did you find this picture?" he asked, pointing at the screen, where Roy Mustang (from Fullmetal Alchemist) was leaning on Edward Elric's head (also from Fullmetal Alchemist) with his gloves on, ready to snap and light something on fire. Ed didn't look too happy.

Kara grinned. It's got some great anime wallpapers. Professional quality, too."

Duo grinned back. "Sounds good. nodded. "Yup."

He turned back to the computer. "Awesome." He started typing.

Kara started looking nervous.

"What the fuck! It's not working!" Duo yelled, gripping the monitor.

"Don't kill the computer!" Kara yelped, jumping forward and pulling his hands off it. "Dad just turned off my Internet connection."

Duo stared at her. "Why?"

"Grades."

The braided teen blinked. "Oh."

"So don't even bother. It's a really old computer, too. Really slow."

"Ah. So, what're we going to do, then?"

Kara shrugged. "I dunno. A card game, maybe?"

"Poker?" Kurama suggested.

Duo grinned. "Great! Ya got any cards?" he asked, bouncing out of the chair, which creaked alarmingly.

"Sure. Do you think I'd have suggested it if we didn't? Be right back." Kara dashed out of the room and up the stairs.

Franchesca blinked. "That was fast."

Kara dashed back down the stairs, a deck of cards in her hand. "Here," she said, handing Kurama the deck. "My Inuyasha cards. Sorry if they're a little hard to read."

Kurama opened the box and pulled the cards out. He raised an eyebrow. "Are these from another anime?"

Duo peered over his shoulder at the cards. "Cool."

"Yup. Inuyasha, as I said," Kara responded, proceeding to name all the characters and which card they were on. "—And Fluffy-sama's the King."

"'Fluffy-sama'?" Duo asked incredulously.

"Yup! His name's actually Sesshomaru, bot I call him Fluffy or Fluffy-sama because of the fluffy thing on his shoulder." Kara paused. "No one knows what it is."

Duo gave her a weird look. "O—kay... Let's start playing!" He grabbed the cards out of the fox's hands. "So who's in?"

"I am," Kurama volunteered.

"Not me," Kara declared. "I used to know how to play, when I was 5, but I've completely forgotten and have no real desire to learn. Besides, I find it more amusing to watch than play."

"Me neither," Franchesca added. "My brother tried to teach me once, when we went to England. We were playing with my Inuyasha cards, and he kept insisting that all the characters were girls. He lost every time, so I told him the cards were angry at him."

Duo snickered. "Serves him right!"

Franchesca grinned at him. "He never really managed to teach me successfully, because I don't remember how to play anymore."

Duo blinked. "Wow. You two really _are_ similar."

Both girls nodded. "We know."

The two guys started playing.

Kurama was winning every hand and grew more and more smug while Duo got more and more frustrated. Finally, Duo got fed up and slammed his hands down on the coffee table, where they were playing.

"You're cheating!" he accused.

Kurama smirked. "So? You are too."

Kara blinked, confused. "You both were?"

Kurama merely looked smug.

"But you're winning!"

"That _is_ the point of cheating, Maxwell-san."

"But-but-but-but-!" Duo stuttered. "What are you doing?!"

Kurama smirked. "A master never reveals his secrets."

Duo continued to sputter.

Kara sighed, stood up, and walked out.

Duo and Kurama blinked after her.

"Did we offend her?" Kurama asked.

"Probably not," Franchesca replied, also staring at the doorway. "If you had, you wouldn't know. Unless it's really bad."

Kara walked back into the room. "Since poker won't work 'cause you're both cheating and fighting about it—" Duo grinned sheepishly "—I have another suggestion. Who wants to play golf?"

"Ano, Kara-san?" Kurama asked. "We don't have..."

"No, no—the card game!" Kara said, waving around the deck of cards in her hand.

Blank stares all around.

"There's a card game?" Franchesca asked.

"Yup! It's fun! I'll teach you!"

"Okay!" Duo chirped.

"Sure," Franchesca agreed.

Kurama nodded his acquiescence.

"Great!" Kara sat down and started shuffling the two decks together. "Get me the Jokers, will you?"

Kurama silently handed the asked-for cards to her.

"Thanks." She shuffled them in, then started dealing. "Okay, here's the rules..."


	5. Chapter 5

BK: Its the last one, folks. The end of our short-story-that-is-no-longer-short at last. -sigh- we've been working on this damn thing for AGES. The good news is that IWA is in the proccess of writing the next chapter of our dear GIA and we're nearly done with that too. whew!

IWA: Hi. Re-posting this chapter because of a wrong name.

Chapter 5

Kara's mom poked her head in the doorway. "So who wants what for dinner?"

"Well, what do we have?" Kara asked.

"We have two choices: Mustard Chicken and Chicken Marsala."

The three guests blinked blankly at her.

"I vote Mustard Chicken," Kara offered, drawing a card and switching it with one of her face down cards.

"Mustard Chicken it is," Kara's mom agreed, disappearing back into the kitchen to start cooking.

Kurama considered the face up card in the discard pile, Duo's visible hand, and his own hand. He picked up the card and switched it with his face down card. "I'm out," he declared.

Duo grimaced. "Thanks," he drawled, "catch me with three cards face down, whydonchya?"

Kurama smiled smugly. "I just did."

Duo rolled his eyes. "It's called sarcasm, Foxy." He drew a card, grimaced, dropped it in the discard pile, and turned his three face down cards over. "Ouch. Queen, Jack, and nine. I don't even _want_ to know how many points I have."

Kara snickered, which earned her a Deathglare à la Heero Yuy™ from the braided pilot. "What?" she asked.

"Just shut up," he grumped.

"Then start counting."

Duo grumbled.

"Chess, it's your turn."

Franchesca drew a card, replaced one of her face down cards, and flipped the other. "Woohoo! A four! That means I have two points!"

Duo snarled at his cards. "Thirty-two."

Kara snickered, picked up the card Franchesca had discarded and switched it with her face down card. "Negative three. You, Kurama?"

"Five."

"Yay! I win!" Kara cheered. "I'm driving, Chess's in the passenger seat, Kurama's in the back, and... Duo's running along behind the car, trying to catch a hold on the bumper."

Duo glowered at the world in general.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed, temporarily blinding everyone in the room.

"Hi! ...Um, what's... Oh! Sorry! It's the light, isn't it?" a young woman's voice babbled.

"Konbanwa, Botan-san," Kurama greeted, blinking.

"Botan!" Kara and Franchesca exclaimed.

Duo looked between Kurama, the two girls he knew, and the blue-haired woman with pink eyes and a pink kimono sitting on an oar that was floating in midair. "What the fuck?"

"Hey!" the floating girl greeted them all. "Good to see you're safe and sound. Koenma-sama's been going nuts about secrecy breeches and stuff."

Kurama stood up. "Time to go home, I take it?"

"Yuppers." Botan pointed at Duo. "He's the other one, then?"

The fox nodded. "Yes. Duo Maxwell. I think he's from a future timeline of this world. Maxwell-san, this is Botan."

Duo blinked. "From the DVDs?"

"Duo's from our future?" Franchesca asked.

"...Awesome," Kara added.

"And this is Kara-san and Franchesca-san. They've been taking care of us," Kurama continued.

"And this is...?" Botan asked, looking around.

"My house. They've been living here," Kara answered her.

Botan sighed. "Well, I'm going to have to take the two of you and anyone else who know who and what Duo and Kurama are to Koenma-sama's office."

"You can trust them," Kurama spoke up.

Everyone turned to him.

"There's no need to alter their memories."

Duo blinked, then glared at the poor ferrygirl.

"...Wha?" Franchesca asked.

Kara glared as well.

Botan cringed. "Um... I'm not in charge of that. You'll have to take that up with Koenma-sama."

"I will," Kurama declared.

Once Kara and Duo had finished glaring, Botan turned to the two human girls. "Does anyone else know about Duo and Kurama?"

They looked at each other.

"Just Liz," Franchesca offered.

Kara nodded. "We knew you'd have to talk to everyone who realized that, so we skipped Japanese Club. Everyone there would've known."

Franchesca turned to Kara questioningly. "Did David ever figure it out?" she asked.

"I don't think so. He would've said something." Kara paused. "Although he may realize like a week from now or something."

Botan sweatdropped. "Um, okay, so how about we go pick up your friend?"

"Liz? Sure," Franchesca agreed.

Botan created a portal, and they all stepped through into Elizabeth's room at her mom's house.

After Kara and Franchesca explained what was going on, Botan made another portal and took them to Spirit World.

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The portal took them to the Gates of Judgment. While Botan announced that she was there, Duo, Kara, Franchesca, and Elizabeth stared at the gigantic doors.

Botan led then through a hallway that looked eerily like the inside of a throat and opened the set of doors at the other end.

Ogres of every size, shape, and color were running around with stacks of paperwork, yelling into phones, typing on keyboards in cubicles, and generally making a lot of noise.

"What the—?!" Duo yelped as the noise reached him.

"Hey! We need another of those over here!"

"Over here, too!"

"Ryu is going into critical condition!"

"What? He's early!"

Duo looked around in amazement. "What is this, a stock market exchange?"

Kara, Franchesca, and Elizabeth weren't as affected by the scene as Duo, having watched the anime quite a few times.

"Come on, Koenma-sama's waiting," Botan chirped at them, leading them through the supernatural chaos to an office.

She knocked on the door. "Koenma-sama? I've brought them."

"Come in!" a voice called from inside the office.

Botan opened the door and walked in, followed by the five teenagers.

The toddler sitting behind the desk stopped stamping papers and looked up.

"Hello," he greeted, putting the stamp down, his pacifier bobbing with each word. "It's good to have you back, Kurama."

Kurama smirked. "Actually, I rather liked it where I was, sir."

Duo stared. "Wait a freakin' minute here— This _kid_ is the Lord of the Dead?!"

Kara snickered. "Blow to the pride of the self-proclaimed Shinigami, huh?"

Duo turned to her, wide-eyed. "You mean he _is_?"

"Yup!" Franchesca confirmed from his other side.

Koenma narrowed his eyes at them. "'Self-proclaimed Shinigami'?"

Duo turned back and grinned at him. "You betcha! Duo Maxwell, God of Death, at your service!" he announced, executing a flourishing bow. "So," he started, straightening and looking around, "why are we here, exactly?"

Koenma sighed. "Policy dictates that we erase the memories of everyone you came in contact with."

Duo gaped. "You're not serious!"

Koenma shook his head. "I am serious."

"No way! _All_ of them? You'd wind up wiping the whole school!"

Kurama shook his head in disagreement. "No. The only people who know we aren't from their world are these three girls." He pinned the toddler god with a glare. "You can trust them. They will not tell anyone."

"But policy—"

"Policy is not always the best way of dealing with a problem."

Duo, bored already, wandered back out into the oni-filled room.

"Kurama, we have to—"

"No, you do not."

Elizabeth, meanwhile, was wandering around the office poking at things, Franchesca was looking bored, and Kara was watching the argument, if it could really be called that. It was obvious Kurama had the upper hand.

"We have to follow policy—"

"No, you do not," the fox interrupted again. "This policy is not the best solution."

"So what should I do, in your opinion?"

"Fix it."

Duo poked his head in. "Hey, Foxy, do you have a camera?"

"No."

"Can you make me a camera?"

Kurama gave him a weird look. "No."

"Damn." Duo's head disappeared from the doorway.

Koenma and Botan blinked. "'Foxy'?" the ferry girl asked.

"Don't ask," Franchesca asserted.

"You don't want to know," Kara finished.

Koenma blinked some more, then turned to Kurama. "Do they always finish each other's sentences like that?"

"Yes, they do. It's rather amusing, watching Duo try to keep track of it."

After a few more minutes of 'arguing', during which Kurama shot holes in whatever his employer said, the two reached an agreement: provided that the girls wouldn't tell and wouldn't do anything differently due to their knowledge, their memories wouldn't have to be wiped.

Botan called Duo back into the office.

"So we're going home now?" the teenage terrorist asked.

Koenma nodded. "Yes. You'll be going back to your own world."

"Great! So, I guess this is goodbye," Duo said, turning to the three girls.

"Yeah," Kara replied sadly.

He glomped her. "I'll miss you, you know."

"Ditto," Kara responded.

He let go of her and glomped Franchesca. "You too."

"See you," Franchesca told him.

He didn't have enough time to glomp Elizabeth. She glomped him instead.

"Bye, Duo!"

"See ya."

Kurama walked over to the group as Elizabeth let Duo go.

"This isn't the last time you'll hear from us," he murmured quietly.

"It better not be," Kara replied.

"Next time, we're staying at YOUR place," Franchesca added.

The fox nodded. "Deal."

"Can I come?" Duo asked.

Kurama smirked.

"Awesome. Well, see ya!" Duo called, waving over his shoulder as he stepped into the portal Botan had just made. She flew in after him.

Kurama bowed to the three girls. "Ja ne," he told them, his eyes sparkling mischievously, then walked out the door.

Koenma created a portal to Elizabeth's house and another to Kara's. The three girls stepped through.

When Kara and Franchesca got back to her house, they started picking up the cards they'd left out.

"Dinnertime," Kara's mom called from the kitchen.

She looked up when Kara and Franchesca walked in and frowned. "Where are Duo and Kurama?"

The two high-school girls shared a look.

"They had to go home," Kara informed her mother.

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End file.
